Across Europe in the McLaren P1

EXCLUSIVE: Tom Ford blasts from Spa to Britain in the 903bhp hybrid hypercar… and ends up on a closed runway. Oh yes

What followed was one of those really textured silences, where the lack of words stuffs the hush fat with the unsaid. "We will drive this home now," said CT, slowly, enunciating clearly, as if to a halfwit. "We will be very, very careful..." My response was to kick the P1's 'box up into seventh, subside the revs and ease gently into lane one. Just a car, my arse.

Except that the P1 is ‘just a car' in all the important ways. Like the 12C, it is comfortable, ergonomic and uncluttered. The windscreen is wide and tall, accentuated by the glass panels above your head that let light flood the interior. You naturally sit in the correct position for leverage at the wheel, and the modified seven-speed SSG 'box works just like in the baby-brother 12C. Which is to say, without complaint or grumble. You can see out of the back through three generous and workable rear-view mirrors. It doesn't feel big, or heavy, or cumbersome.